The Russian company NovaWind will urgently launch solar energy with a capacity of 200 MWp in Mali

Can solar energy help Mali overcome its energy crisis? We will undoubtedly find out in the coming months. In recent weeks, Mali’s interim government has been working hard to implement this solution across the country. On Friday, May 24, 2024, interim president Assimi Goïta traveled to Sanankoroba in the Kati cercle to lay the foundation stone of a new photovoltaic solar power plant.

With an expected capacity of 200 MWp, it will be the largest solar power plant in Sub-Saharan Africa. The park is being built about thirty kilometers from the capital Bamako as part of a partnership between the government and NovaWind, a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Rosatom. This Moscow-based company recently signed a partnership with the government of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia) for the development of 1,000 MW of renewable energy.

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A day before work was scheduled to begin on the Sanankoroba solar power plant, Mali’s head of state, Assimi Goïta, met with NovaWind managing director Grigory Nazarov to assess progress on the project. At the end of the meeting, the General Secretariat of the Malian Government stated that it represented the project “a significant step towards diversifying Mali’s energy mix and reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.”

“With the next generation of infrastructure to be built in Sanankoroba, Mali is on the path to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.” said President Assimi Goïta. Earlier this month, the government of Mali approved the first amendment to the concession agreement for the construction of a 50 MWp solar power plant in Tiakadougou-Dialokoro, in the Kati district. The solar power plant, which has been under construction since 2020, will be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) by the Emirati company Amea Power.

Jean Maria Takouleu